[SOLVED] GPU not running the normal utilization and wattage when I add an expansion card to 2nd 16x slot.

[eno45]

AMD 5900x
Asus x570 Prime
32gb 3200mhz
Gigabyte 6700xt
Seasonic 850watt Prime
M2 slot 1 - Samsung 970 evo 500gb boot drive
M2 slot 2 - Adata XPG S70 Blade 2tb primary game storage
Expansion 4x card for NVMe drive - Samsung 970 evo plus 2tb (This add on is when the issues started and I tried 2 adapter cards with this NVMe drive)
4tb Toshiba N300 HDD secondary game storage / image back ups
1tb WD Black HDD junk drive

I am getting weird performance issues when I install a 3rd NVMe drive but in a adapter PCIe card on my 2nd 16x slot. The drive runs near full speed around 3200/3200. But then I load up a DX11 game like BF4 which runs at 142 constant most of the time with my cap I have running. Well it starts running around 100fps and my normal GPU power of 150-190 watts that I monitor with Afterburner on my 2nd screen only runs around 60watts and GPU clocks aren't boosting as high. Weird part is normally in game when you stare at the floor or sky your FPS goes up. Super weird when i do that my fps drops to 90,80ish and then settles at a constant 75fps. I have tried two different adapter cards with this Samsung 970evo plus 2tb and it starts this hit or miss issue where I end up pulling the drive and sometimes the issues stays after I pull it. I just reloaded the GPU driver and so far it's hanging in there running properly but the issue will return when I try to run this 3rd NVMe drive. I have a Samsung 970 500gb as boot on M2 #1 and a 2tb Adata S70 Blade on M2 #2. I just snagged this brand new 970evo plus 2tb for $120 so I wanted to use it on my main rig. So far my system is acting up. I also hear the sound of a new device getting plugged in on boot up but never see anything in device manager. I also get a Windows alert "Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect." during this issue. This only started after trying to use this new Samsung drive.

I wonder if this is a bifurcation issue with too many NVMe drives. I like my 500gb boot and 2tb game drive layout so please no advice about dropping the 500gb boot drive. Hoping to run all 3 drives if possible. My slot speeds are all proper at 16x to GPU (what shows in GPUZ) and Gen3 / 4x to the Samsung 970evo plus(shows in Samsung software)

 

[Lutfij]

Could you parse a link to the adapter you're working with? Also, did you install the NVMe driver for the new SSD? If not, it's located at the bottom of the download section for your Samsung 970 Evo Plus portal page.

 

[bignastyid]

When you use the middle(2nd) 16x slot then it shares bandwidth with the top slot, changing it from 16x to 8x. If you want to keep the top slot running at 16x then you need to put the pci-e adapter card in the bottom slot.

 

[eno45]

When you use the middle(2nd) 16x slot then it shares bandwidth with the top slot, changing it from 16x to 8x. If you want to keep the top slot running at 16x then you need to put the pci-e adapter card in the bottom slot.

My Asus Prime x570 board only has two 16x slots. Do you think GPUz is not reading correct specs then?

It reads both what the card can do and what it is currently running at which is PCIe16x 4.0

 

[eno45]

Could you parse a link to the adapter you're working with?

I am not following what you mean by this.

It turns out I already had downloaded the same v3.3 back into 2021 for my 970evo 500gb boot drive. I would imagine this new 2tb Evo plus had what it needed when it was plugged in due to the driver package already on the system?

Right now after I reloaded the GPU driver it hasn't been acting up. But sometimes it seemed to work and other times it wouldn't with this 3rd drive. I still get the new device windows sound on boot up. In the past when I was having issues I would get the " your hardware has changed notification". I don't feel i'm in the clear yet though.

 

[bignastyid]

My Asus Prime x570 board only has two 16x slots. Do you think GPUz is not reading correct specs then?

It reads both what the card can do and what it is currently running at which is PCIe16x 4.0

There are a couple different X570 prime models and since you didn't specify which one you had I must have been looking at the wrong one. P has 2 16x slots While the Pro has 3.

 

[Lutfij]

Expansion 4x card for NVMe drive - Samsung 970 evo plus 2tb (This add on is when the issues started and I tried 2 adapter cards with this NVMe drive)
^

I am not following what you mean by this.

 

[eno45]

Expansion 4x card for NVMe drive - Samsung 970 evo plus 2tb (This add on is when the issues started and I tried 2 adapter cards with this NVMe drive)
^

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09749KN6D?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I'm using a PCIe 4.0 Expansion Card with Aluminum Heatsink, PCIe x16 x8 x4 to M.2 NVMe SSD Adapter, Maximum Speed up to 64 Gbps that I bought off Amazon. I have tried two of these types of cards and experienced the same issues with both. Currently I haven't seen the issue return now after driver reload. Is weird though that the issue started with no other changes when I put in this 3rd drive on the 2nd 16x slot using a cheap adapter card.

 

[eno45]

To wrap this up for future readers. The issue started when I installed the 2tb NVMe in the PCIe adapter. Weird GPU performance issues. But ultimately after a GPU driver reload the issues have not returned and I still have the drive installed using the adapter. No more GPU issues. Weird.